dilated IVC without collapse during respiration

[coloradoman]

I am a 51 year old male who weighs 217lbs 6 ft tall (tyring to lose some weight) . I have had chronic pain and some pulmonary problems along with mild pulmonary hypertension. I recently had a echocardiogram which showed "dialated IVC without collapse during respiration".

In addition, I have some serious de-saturation during sleep I have to use oxygen 3L at night. My last sleep study showed no obstruction. I have read that "dialated IVC without collapse during respiration" is a marker for poor prognosis.  

I am recieving very little support from pulmonary side of this. Can you shed some light on this ?

[Cleveland Clinic]

IVC without respiratory variation is a very nonspecific sign as far as any particular disease process is concerned, but it is concerning.  This finding is mostly associated with elevated right sided filling pressures.  That could mean that your pulmonary HTN is higher than expected.  There could also be severe dysfunction of the right ventricle and severe tricuspid valve regurgitation.  Finally myocardial disease processes as well as pericardial disease could also cause this as well.  Depending on your symptoms and non-invasive findings such as an echocardiogram or a stress test I would consider performing an invasive test such as a right heart catheterization to assess the pulmonary and the right-sided filling pressures.  The fact that you are having exertional symptoms would further push me to recommend this further testing.

[coloradoman]

I forgot to mention that I hike 1-2 hours away every day. I have problems but I just slow down.